Ukraine arrests 155th officers on suspicion of inaction
The wait-and-see attitude of senior Ukrainian army officers is said to have facilitated the installation of Russian troops in a stretch of territory north of Kharkiv. A colonel commanding the “Anne of Kiev” brigade was arrested.
According to AFP, two generals and a colonel have been arrested for “inaction” during the Russian offensive in Kharkiv in 2024. The information is said to have come from the Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigation DBR (ДБР). On the other hand, the DBR reported the arrest of a colonel commanding the 155th mechanized brigade. This was the “Anne of Kiev” brigade, which had been sent to France for training. The Kiev security services accused him of failing to react to offences of abandonment of post and non-return from vacation by members of his unit in Kharkiv.
Lack of motivation
The senior officer is alleged to have deliberately omitted to carry out various actions related to his official duties. In particular, he failed to draw up and send reports on the preliminary investigation into subordinate servicemen who had committed criminal offences, in particular abandoning their posts. This reduced Ukrainian forces against the Russians. All the more so as the colonel covered up their “voluntary” departures and returns without informing the hierarchy. In addition, he was said to have “unjustifiably included men who weren't motivated for military service in the lists of people who had to undergo training in the territory of the French Republic”.
Reputation at stake
The lack of action and the sending to France of men about whom the authorities had expressed reservations have damaged Ukraine's defense. Indeed, according to Kiev, under these conditions, it was difficult for the armed forces to carry out defense functions and certain combat tasks due to the insufficient number of soldiers. This would then have allowed Russian forces to move into a border area near Kharkiv, which they have controlled ever since. Finally, these defections “undermined the prestige and authority of the military unit and the defense forces as a whole”.
(MH with Olivier Duquesne - Source: RFI with AFP & DBR (ДБР) - Picture: © ДБР)